Construction not to begin on Alpine high school

EAST COUNTY  Grossmont Union High School District trustees voted Thursday night to accept construction bids for the preparation, grading and infrastructure on the site of the proposed Alpine high school.

The 4 to 1 vote, with trustee Priscilla Schreiber dissenting, continues the design process and allows for plans for the $65 million campus to go to the state for review in September. However, wording of the resolution states that attendance funding from the state be restored to 2008 numbers before the school could be built.

The vote came during a board meeting at the East County Regional Education Center in El Cajon. More than 70 people — most of them supporters of the long-awaited school — filled the room and spent the 45 minutes allotted to public comments to address concerns about the proposed high school.

"Instead of taking credit for building a new school, you're hell-bent on condemning our children to a purgatory of mediocrity," said Lynn Moody of Blossom Valley.

Trustee Robert Shield said the resolution clearly shows that the board wants to build the high school.

But, Shield said, "As long as the budget stinks, we're not building it - that's what this says."

Officials said they couldn't afford to operate the school even if they built it.

In April, trustees were considering a proposal by Superintendent Ralf Swenson to delay construction because of declining enrollment. The board-appointed Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, citing its own concerns about declining enrollment, recommended halting work on the Alpine high school, other than to continue acquiring the site.

The district is seeking the property — the Lazy A ranch — through eminent domain. The school has been debated for the past dozen years.

Most recently, trustees focused attention on a condition in Proposition U, the $417 million bond measure passed by voters in 2008 to complete modernization of existing high schools and build a new one serving Alpine and Blossom Valley for up to 800 students. The condition, known as the “enrollment trigger,” requires construction contracts to be awarded only if enrollment in the district is at least 23,245.

Longtime Alpine high school advocate Sal Casamassima maintains that the enrollment trigger has been met, with 23,247 students.